Congrats to ADDTF for one solid year of reading comics naked.

Also, welcome back ADD and In Sequence.

Did I miss anyone?

 
Where you been? You still working out at the airport?

Have you ever had one of those points in your life when everything seems to be happening at once? Not in a bad way, necessarily. After all, this time around most of it is comic-related. I'm reading three different books for research on blog posts, preparing a zine for my trip to the Toronto comic convention, working on various comics and illustrations, getting ready for school, preparing for my first interviews, and all the while the emails are flying to and fro. I'll be touching on most of these things when the time comes, but for now I'll save the suspense and get to the fun stuff.

The role of criticism in the comics community has been debated over quite a bit recently, from Groth's latest essay to useless ramblings over Jess Lemon's review of Outsiders #1. Over at the Comics Journal message board, Chris Lanier showcases his essays on comics, in comic form. Topics include Comics and Fine Art, Last Gasp, and Barefoot Gen. I especially liked his piece on Krazy Kat.

I'm very neglectful when it comes to my links section. I've just added Comixpedia, the place to go for all the news about online comics. This omission is especially shameful since I'm involved in an online comic project of my own. Nothing can beat my goof in forgetting to link to illustrator and storyboard artist extraordinaire Ronnie del Carmen and his blog from four months ago. Jordan Richer has some fine sketches in his blog, and fellow Rose City boy Mike Pisiak steps up to the plate with his illustration work. With the exception of the deceased Title Bout, I have almost no interest in writing surrounding the Diamond Previews catalogue. Happily, recently relocated Rodrigo Baeza has beefed up his blog with some really great content that isn't just a list of what's coming out soon, including John Byrne and his big mouth, Goodman Beaver Goes Playboy, and Vince Colletta's farewell.

Jay Stephens has revealed that DC Comics will not be releasing the Bob Haney scripted Teen Titans Swingin' Elseworlds project because it's too weird and unconventional. Bob Haney is one of my all-time favourite superhero scripters, and this is quite possibly the only thing I've been looking forward to from the Big Two. Maybe they should have thought about cancelling it before it was written, pencilled, inked and solicited (with a beautiful Nick Cardy cover to boot). Bah! Samples can be found here.

While not quite as good as the Betty Cooper FAQ, the Archie Meets The Punisher annotations are still well worth checking out. If you're into that sort of thing, that is.

It pays to be a member of the Beguiling's mailing list. As you've probably heard, the National Post has run four days worth of work diaries by Guelph-based cartoonist Seth. One, two, three, and four. Easily the most exciting news (well, for me anyway) is in the fourth installment.

"For years now, I've been seeking out the work of a handful of old-time Canadian cartoonists. Thanks to eBay, I've added a lot of material to what's become a pretty interesting collection. The ultimate goal is to produce a book on the subject, as cartoonists like Simpkins were an important though almost uniformly forgotten part of Canada's history."

I'm a big ol' nerd when it comes to Canadian cartooning history. And does anyone else get a little weirded out knowing that famed Luddite Seth has a computer?
posted by Steven at 8:47 PM